A plug and receptacle connector with which the present invention is most advantageously employed includes plug and receptacle connector parts which are releasably mated to one another in order to interconnect one or more cable wires via internally located contacts. One commonly employed type of contacts consist of pin and socket contacts having male and female parts which are conductively joined on mating of the connector parts to effect the desired electrical interconnection. The pin and socket contacts are mated and unmated by relative movement along a single straight line axis and any attempt to separate the connector parts along other directions will damage or destroy the connector contacts.
It is necessary in certain uses and circumstances (e.g., emergencies) to be able to rapidly release such a connector by relative movement of the connector parts in any of several different directions. For this purpose there is a known type of contacts for use in plug and receptacle connectors in which a male pin contact merely abuts against the end of a spring-loaded contact when the connector parts are joined to form an electrical connection therebetween. These "butt" contacts have the special utility of being able to withstand transverse bending forces applied to the connector, such as may happen when a connector is only partially mated or has been mated and inadvertently loosened. A decided advantage over pin and socket contacts is that transverse bending forces when applied to a pin and socket contact can break or damage the contacts impairing operation of the connector and producing electrical shorts. Still further, butt contacts can be disconnected by moving the connector parts transversely from one another rather than merely toward and away from one another.